A novelette for today’s instalment of Women Authors Week!

Aftermath – part 1, part 2 – by Joy Kennedy-O’Neill (an American woman)

from Strange Horizons (Feb 2012)

Zombies! Zombiesssss! Yes, this is a zombie story, and one that’s meant to be Different from All That Zombie Stuff. *rolleyes* I think at this point I’m not only tired of zombie themes, but also tired of clever subversions of zombie themes. I’ve recently read a similar novel about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse (Tricia Sullivan’s Lighborn, which was published last year) and I totally did not feel like reading more. I only read Aftermath to have something to review.

It was good.

How did that happen?

The author is probably just that good a writer. Maybe if I were to ask her to write a story about psychic space marines, she would go on to write a good solid story about psychic space marines. (I’m tempted.) Then again, she also knows her zombies. She apparently teaches a class on zombies! Unfortunately the class video is “blocked in your country on copyright grounds”, and all my fun proxy stuff is set up on a different computer, so I won’t be able to tell you more about her zombie class.

Anyway, the twist on the theme is that a cure is found for the zombie plague, and people return to their normal lives… what could possibly go wrong? It’s a rather psychological take on zombies. (I definitely prefer this novelette to Lightborn, BTW.)

One little annoyance, and a caveat for writers: if you need to name a random French character… de Gaulle is probably not a good choice for a surname. Next time, we’ll see an American called Roosevelt? (Then again, the author herself has a presidential surname, so maybe I shouldn’t complain.)

For Women Authors Week #3, we have two surprisingly similar, and yet very different stories – both feature a relatively soft SF or science-fantasy setting, and both have lesbian protagonists who get involved with mysterious organizations. (I don’t know if the authors are lesbian too; I did not manage to find anything about that.)

The Chastisement of Your Peace by Tracy Canfield (an American woman)

from Strange Horizons, Jan 2012

This is by no means a straightforward story, and one needs to work to fit all the pieces together. Since that’s half the enjoyment, I think I shouldn’t say anything more about the plot or – especially – the setting here. Maybe I can say it’s about alternate worlds.

It’s a lot of fun. I had to reread the first half to get everything right, but I’m pleased to say the pieces do actually fit, and The Chastisement of your Peace  is not one of those fantasy stories which are surreal in an incoherent way.

This story has received surprisingly little critical attention. I couldn’t even find a review by Lois Tilton, who usually covers Strange Horizons… The only one who reviewed it was… Rahul Kanakia! He liked it too.

Similar stories I’ve reviewed: I haven’t really reviewed it, but this story reminded me of the Mass Effect video game series and everyone creating their own protagonists who each have their own adventures and personalities. Even some of the characters in the story reminded me of Mass Effect, in a good way.

Sunlight Society by Margaret Ronald (an American woman)

from Clarkesworld, March 2012

This story brings together two retro-flavored genres, superhero fiction and cyberpunk. The plot is very close to the standard Mary Sue tale: the young female protagonist (who also happens to be a geek) ends up meeting the big-name superheroes, who call on her special expertise. But down along the line it gets subverted somewhat and she ends up (spoilers!) disillusioned – which is not as common for Mary Sues – then she goes on to totally pwn the superheroes – which is closer to the spirit of the trope.

I know a lot of the “this is just a Mary Sue story” criticism – not directed at Sunlight Society, just in general – is basically lightly concealed misogyny, as very few people protest Gary Stu stories in a similar manner (though I do…). I’d like to avoid that – I’m certainly not claiming it’s a bad thing to feature female geeks as protagonists. One of my Hugo nominations last year also had a geeky woman as one of the main characters.

But in this case everything was so close to the trope that I constantly kept on thinking of it while reading, which is very unusual for an original-universe story. I can’t remember any single work eliciting this reaction from me in the past year – though I’ve reviewed some Gary Stu stuff, most notably Hence the King from Kagehana. Apparently male Mary Sues have a better chance at getting past editorial filters.

The protagonist is – notably – a lesbian woman of color, though this is not particularly crucial to the story (but there is a mention of racism and a quip about the KKK). On one hand that’s a plus for inclusion, on the other it’s slightly like “I’ve followed the RaceFail controversy and now I know what to do”, so it’s more like a homework assignment than a discussion of the challenges faced by queer PoC… I’m not sure I’m making myself clear here. It’s more than just a token mention, but not much more. And of course, even token mentions in this vein – where the protagonist is empowered and not racially stereotyped – are better than no mention at all.

There is one huge plus to this story: it reflects on the recent spate of leaks and whistleblowers. I’d like to see SF engage with recent political events more often! …though hopefully with less 90s jargon – “nethead” was quite annoying the first time around, I’m not looking forward to it making a comeback. (And I have the “Net-Head Handbook”, I kid you not.)

Part 2 of Women Authors Week. At the end of the week I’ll also put up the new Battle for SF Awards page!

Today we have two stories with Chinese settings, by a Chinese and an Australian author.

A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight by Xia Jia (a Chinese woman) translated by Ken Liu (a Chinese-American man)

from Clarkesworld #65, Feb 2012

Xia is her surname because she is totally Hungarian Chinese. Brownie points for Clarkesworld! (I should put that in my FAQ, coming to think of it…)

This is a poetic and sensitive story set in a street inhabited by ghosts – it’s quite similar to Miyazaki Hayao’s animated feature Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away). But appearances are deceiving – it is more science fiction than fantasy. You’ll see – do not miss out on this one! It’s beautiful and intriguing.

I’m also very happy that Clarkesworld has Chinese stories every now and then (mostly thanks to Ken Liu, who takes the time to translate them). There’s so little translated fiction in the big magazines, it’s mind-boggling. At least Japanese SF now has a major English-language imprint (Haikasoru), I’d love to see a similar Chinese venture.

Similar stories I’ve reviewed: The House of Aunts by Zen Cho – another young protagonist raised by a group of mythical creatures

White Lies by Thoraiya Dyer (an Australian woman)

from Redstone Science Fiction, Jan 2012

A postcyberpunk story that never really gets to the post- part. People have implants which offer answers to their questions by polling everyone’s minds in the region. On a trip to Asia, the protagonist hooks up with a fellow tourist, but he gets anxious what will happen once they leave the Chinese net and return to the US. They will start asking questions about each other, and they might find the answers surprising…

This is a fun idea, but unfortunately the plot is one big mess. In a supposedly realistic near-future story with everyman/woman characters, it is very immersion-breaking for the protagonist to have a lesbian aunt who is also (spoiler!) an awesome spy who meets with high-ranking Chinese officials – that’s a bit  too convenient. (My problem is not with the “lesbian”, obviously.)

Otherwise, this is a darkly amusing take on psychopathy… a wasted opportunity, really. Cool idea, interesting characters, and then a complete hackjob of a plot.

Similar stories I’ve reviewed: Perfect Lies by Gwendolyn Clare offers a very different perspective on lying.

I’ve read a lot of stories by women authors recently, so I’m declaring this week Women Authors Week! No, that’s totally not an April Fools joke.

Mother Doesn’t Trust Us Anymore by Patricia Russo (an American woman)

from GigaNotoSaurus, Jan 2012

This one was published in GigaNotoSaurus, but it’s a short story, not a novelette or novella.

Amusingly, it has a setting I once read about in a ‘bad worldbuilding ideas’ article somewhere – the sun doesn’t come up any longer and people live in darkness. Obviously, were this to happen, everything would die in a short while, but Patricia Russo put enough of the surreal in her story that I did not find myself annoyed by the implausibility of the situation. That’s an achievement in itself (especially since as you’ve probably realized by now, I am a huge nitpicker).

The story features several children and it’s told from a child’s point of view, and that also helps with the suspension of disbelief. All in all, it’s a decent, emotionally focused read.  It’s not spectacular, but it’s good solid fantasy that fits into recent trends.

All the Young Kirks and their Good Intentions by Helena Bell (an American woman)

from Clarkesworld #65, Feb 2012

A story about a bunch of children growing up in the far future. While I was reading, I kept on thinking I was missing something major. The entire point?

I was.

Apparently it’s a rather meta Star Trek reference:

I bet when March 22, 2228* actually rolls around, someone is going to name their child James Tiberius Kirk.’ I thought it would be funnier if a bunch of people did it and thus ‘All the Young Kirks and Their Good Intentions’ was born.

Unfortunately I know so little about Star Trek that I’m not even sure who James T. Kirk is, other than he is a captain. Of course, the argument could be made that Star Trek is a basic part of science fiction literacy, but it wasn’t one when I grew up, where I grew up, and later on I did not particularly feel like I should be doing any catching up (I started watching TNG at some point, but I gave up after a couple of episodes – it felt hopelessly dated).

But did you know Susan Calvin is already alive and in her late twenties?!

All the Young Kirks is otherwise nice and melancholy, completely unlike a Star Trek future. That’s a plus! Just a little explanation in the body of the text itself and it could’ve won me over.

 These two stories are quite similar to each other, so this time I’m not going to recommend similar stories at the end of the post…

Two stories by women authors: a pleasant surprise and an unpleasant one.

In the Cold by Kelly Jennings (an American woman)

from Strange Horizons, Jan 2012

A relatively short story with little plot, but strong worldbuilding – and the plot reflects on the society and vice versa in interesting ways. A community on a distant and inhospitable planet is governed with a form of council socialism (not named explicitly as such in the story). The young protagonist knows she herself might end up chairing the executive committee at some point, but she doesn’t necessarily like it… and when an accident happens, all the upsides and downsides of communal decisionmaking are highlighted. Upon reading my description, this doesn’t sound particularly intriguing, but it is, somehow.

 A form of technological telepathy (again, not named as such) also makes an appearance… I wonder why we don’t see more writers doing this, it’s really the logical extension of present-day computing.

Similar stories I’ve reviewed: All That Touches the Air by An Owomoyela – colonists in inhospitable environment, political theme (and also a cool read!)

Steady State by Lynette Mejía (an American woman)

from Redstone Science Fiction, March 2012

A story of love and roundabout suicide involving a black hole. I felt it was supposed to be poetic, but to me it just felt boring and derivative. The concept is not new and the execution is tedious – for example, what need do the long-winded status messages serve? They’re there to demonstrate that this is science fiction?

I found Redstone SF’s last issue really disappointing (see my review of the other story), I hope they will have more interesting content next month. I’m always looking for more science fiction to review, but the whole world is moving in the direction of more fantasy… so I’m following this science-fiction-oriented magazine with great interest and I’m especially disappointed when the stories are lacking.

Two shorter reviews this time… I think I can say a lot about really bad stories, and really good stories, but a lot of this year’s crop is just meh.

How Many Miles to Babylon? by Megan Arkenberg (an American woman)

from Lightspeed (Jan 2012)

The End Times are coming. They are also strongly reminiscent of Alan Wake. Don’t leave your flashlights and magnesium flares at home, because monsters lurk in the dark…

This isn’t a particularly interesting take on Bible fic – it’s quite similar to Tanith Lee’s Black Fire, published in the same venue exactly a year earlier, except that one was inspired by Genesis rather than Revelation.

I would probably have enjoyed reading How Many Miles to Babylon? more if I hadn’t played Alan Wake first, which is very similar, but superior in every respect.

I Will Love You Forever by Michaele Jordan (an American woman)

from Redstone Science Fiction (Feb 2012)

This is yet another female servant bot story (I should probably have a separate tag, it’s so common), except in this case the emphasis is more on the household chores than the sex.

There is absolutely nothing original about this work – the title says it all, really. Protagonist falls into love with robot, conquers obstacles in the name of love. At least the robot shows some agency and initiative, but that still doesn’t lift the story above the rest.

Similar stories I’ve reviewed: Long Enough and Just So Long by Cat Rambo (male sexbot character for a change), A Good Time by Shelly Li (more sexbots)

After the great Asian mythpunk(ish) story, we have a… rather confused Asian mythpunk story. Both feature warlike Asian male deities.

The Lady of the Lake by E. Catherine Tobler (an American woman)

from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #86 (Jan 12 2012)

This is a slightly mangled retelling of the Japanese deity Susa no Ō‘s story from the point of view of the Yamata no Orochi, a monster he defeats. The author tries to put some distance between the original legend and the retelling, but it doesn’t really work out – the protagonist keeps on reiterating she does not literally carry fir trees on her back. All right, we got it the first time…

 There is also a character who’s apparently Chinese, for no particular reason I could discern. (Maybe I’m missing something here…) All in all, this is not a very engaging story – I’m surprised by that, because the topic of the storm deity fighting the sea deity is very common in various Eurasian mythologies, so there’s plenty to build on and plenty of ways readers of different cultures can relate to this theme.

Similar stories I’ve reviewed:

* All the Flavors: A Tale of Guan Yu, The Chinese God of War, in America by Ken Liu – Heroic Asian male deities done better.

* The Apocalypse Artist by Claire Light – More mythpunk with lakes and snakes and stuff. (BTW since that post I’ve discovered the Micro Award, which is close to what I was envisioning, though not focused on spec fic.)

Yet another Nebula shortlisted novelette. I’ve been putting off reviewing this one because my feelings about it are very… complicated.

The Migratory Pattern of Dancers by Katherine Sparrow (an American woman)

from GigaNotoSaurus

A dystopian future scenario! Many animal species have become extinct. Some humans are genetically modified with bird DNA and then they tour national parks to perform “bird dances”. They get an urge to migrate like birds, so they tour, on bikes because they are not as birdlike as to be able to fly.

I have really mixed feelings about this, because while this is an interesting and well-executed concept, it reminds me of indigenous peoples and the subjugative concepts connected to them. Especially since the characters are also subjugated by the company they work for, they are the targets of racism, etc.

I’m feeling like maybe I am reading too much into this. But having oppressed members of indigenous peoples perform dances for the enjoyment of rich people is something that’s historically tied to colonialism. And some American Indian peoples of both Americas do have bird dances and/or flying dances (one particular dance in the story really looked like the Danza de los Voladores). So even if the moral of the story is “oppressing people is wrong, making people serve as exotic circus exhibits is wrong” (which is something I can agree with), the story is still about a fictional group that is basically a Pseudo-American-Indian group whose members are described as explicitly nonhuman. Which is extremely problematic IMO. Even if the portrayal is sympathetic.

Dash of Expanded Horizons wrote up some bad tropes related to American Indians in spec fic; this is not a comprehensive list, it was created in response to some bad slush, so it mostly reflects the kinds of bad Indian-themed stories people tend to submit to Expanded Horizons. (The trope list did not have anything to do with the story I’m reviewing.)

Let’s see that, assuming I am not imagining the “allegorical Indians” inspiration in the story (really, look at Danza de los Voladores), which bad tropes are hit.

* Indians are allegorical symbols of nature or the ecosystem

* “This story isn’t supposed to be about REAL Native peoples, it’s spec fic!”

* Native tropes become literally true (magical, connected to land or animals, etc.)

* Indians are like animals, they’re not people

* Indians as literary symbols for “the past vs. the present/ the future/ modernity/ progress”

There are also a couple more, but in those cases the connection more strongly depends on the reader’s interpretation (for example, “human sacrifice”).

What do you think? I’m skipping the “related stories” bit this time (yesterday I simply forgot about it, my bad), because I don’t think I’ve reviewed any closely related stories yet.

Also, I know there are plugins to automate “related content”, but I think my own personal take on which story is similar to which is more helpful than an automated recommendation whose only purpose is to drive up the amount of clicks. Since I do not have advertising on my site (I only advertise myself – LOL) I have no use for tools that inflate pageviews.

As promised, here is another precognition story!

Uncle Flower’s Homecoming Waltz by Marissa K. Lingen (an American woman)

from Tor.com Originals

Adults in the future have precognitive dreams by default because they’ve been engineered to be so. Most people only have dreams of the next day, and people who have dreams of the next year or even the next century can either participate in training (someplace far away) or take drugs to suppress their abilities, which have the side effect of dumbing them down.

Allow me a detour first:

This dichotomy is very familiar from Babylon 5 – even the drug is similar – and it is also totally false. The problem with these kinds of stories is that people end up assuming these sorts of false choices are real or “realistic” (I’ve heard that exact word in this exact context several times). When asked for clarifications, people usually offer: “if precognition were real, precognitive people would be oppressed by some kind of state organ.” Um. This assumes that 1. precognition is not real 2. oppression of minority groups is the default modus operandi of the government. Do you like these undeclared assumptions? I don’t. I live in a country where #2 is very much true (though most people think #1 is false), but still, I’d like to imagine that oppression is not necessary.

Back to the story – you can probably guess the plot by now. The main character is a young girl who has to make a choice whether to enter training and leave her family, or to take the drugs. It also turns out the military gives people drugs. (Here, people whose dreams are displaced in space instead of time are briefly discussed – this is basically clairvoyance – for the sole purpose of showing how the government abuses its citizens.)

There is also a throwaway grammar-Nazi line in there, but I probably only notice that because I’m a theoretical linguist and quite opposed to such prescriptivism. It’s not related to race or ethnicity in this story.

I still have a few things from 2012 to review (mostly  from the Nebula shortlist), but I’m eager to go on with the new stuff! For today and tomorrow I’ve picked  stories about precognition. One of the editors at Tor.com must like the theme, because most of the recent precognition stories come from them even though they don’t publish that much original fiction.

The original idea was to have two reviews on a single day, as before, but I got verbose…

Mother, Crone, Maiden by Cat Hellisen (a South African woman)

from Tor.com Originals (Feb 2012)

This story comes with artwork by the awesome Goñi Montes. I confess his illustrations bump every story up my queue! He also has a post on his website with work-in-progress sketches and all. (BTW I wonder how his name is spelled – I’ve previously spelled it as “Goni” because that’s how it appears in his website header, but his contact info has “Goñi”. I guess he has the same problem as I do? BTW – people, my name has at least one acute accent in it, this is not optional unless you really really can’t do Unicode.)

 The story itself is about precognitive people who snort coke a drug suspiciously like coke to get precognitive visions. The protagonist is a young girl who is forced into a marriage. She tries to divine her fate – lots of coke snorting follows. Then she makes a decision that leaves me scratching my head. That’s about it in a nutshell and without spoilers…

The plot hits many of the usual precognition tropes (be sure to read my friend Dash’s great post about the topic) – first and foremost the one about precognitive people being unable to have a decent romantic relationship. The previous such story I reviewed also came from Tor.com. In both cases this seemed to be the entire plot. Sigh! The previous one made the Nebula shortlist, so there must be lots of people who enjoy these kinds of stories – I know I do not.

There is also a bit of Not Again: while the protagonist is described as “blond and pale”, her enemies are “dark-skinned” monsters with “slanted eyes”. Racially loaded much? (BTW the author is white, so this is not a case of internalized oppression.) They are named “Hobs”, but as far as I know, the hobs of Anglo-Saxon folklore do not have such racial attributes.

I especially disliked this scene: “I am running through Pelimburg at night, dressed in simple clothes, with a small hiking bag over my shoulders. I have covered my hair and rubbed dirt into my skin. Even so I am too blond and pale for this city. Monstrous people watch me as I run past. I am lost in the alleyways and warrens of Old Town. “

 For a long while I used to live in an inner-city neighborhood with such a reputation (except the ethnic context is different because it’s Hungary and the Scary Minorities are Gypsies and Jews). So this passage was especially hurtful. Yeah, I know that’s what The Majority thinks of me, that I’m a monster, you don’t need to rub it in. *rolleyes*

(In case you’re wondering, I am ridiculously blond and pale, but, as I’ve said, the ethnic context is different. Hungary still has the same “scary hood” stereotypes, and I can relate to them thankyouverymuch.)

Since the character’s ethnicity has zero to do with the story otherwise, I fail to see why this was a good thing to include. If this is what’s supposed to pass for background flavor, I’m not sure I dare to read the author’s novel set in the same world.

Similar stories I’ve reviewed:

* Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders – romantic relationship between precognitive people fails

* Thirty Seconds from Now by John Chu – romantic relationship with one precognitive person. (Guess the ending.)